


Dream a Little Dream of Me

by LarasLandlockedBlues



Series: Lightning Struck [8]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Cullen Rutherford Smut, Cullen Smut, Cullenlingus, Dream Shenanigans, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fade Shenanigans, In the Fade, Loss of Virginity, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Shameless Smut, Smut, Some Plot, unusual courtship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 15:56:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12797736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarasLandlockedBlues/pseuds/LarasLandlockedBlues
Summary: Evelyn's usual wanderings of the Fade take an unusual turn when it starts to recreate the desires she has for the Commander, becoming more vivid each time she dreams. And Cullen finds himself waking from dreams that seem so real he swears he can still feel and taste her on him.There's no harm in indulging fantasies, right? Unless there's more going on than simple imagination.Just a little smutty one shot. Essentially a short AU of my work Eye of the Storm.





	Dream a Little Dream of Me

The Fade was unusually boring tonight, Evelyn thought as she wandered through the empty paths of Haven. She was happier when she dreamt of her family’s estate, when she was able to remember times spent with Bron and her family. Instead recently her dreams and wanderings of the Fade had taken her through Haven, through the burnt Temple of Sacred Ashes. They were no longer an escape from the waking world. They had become a reflection of it, and she kept waking up more tired than she had felt before she went to sleep. She just wanted some rest. She just wanted to forget that she was the Herald of Andraste, if only for a few hours.

She walked through the Fade Haven, trying to discover if anything was different in its dream state than when she was awake. As she meandered through the village, she passed one row of tents and felt certain she heard someone within one of them. She hesitated, wondering if maybe it was a demon. She bit her lip as she tried to decide what to do.

If it wasn’t a demon, perhaps it was the spirit who sometimes watched her within the Fade, she mused, and she approached the tent. Maybe she could finally speak with it.

She opened the tent flaps and was surprised when she saw who was standing within.

Commander Cullen was sitting on the edge of his desk, tapping his fingers on its wood and looking deep in thought.

She paused again.

It could still be a demon.

“Commander?” she asked softly.

His head snapped up and he jumped up from where he was leaning against the desk. “Evel – Herald!” he cried, sounding surprised to see her. “How – how can I help you?”

He was more nervous around her than he was normally in the waking world, it seemed, and she wondered why. “Commander, what are you – is -” she stopped, unsure of how to phrase her question. He wasn’t a mage, and so she doubted somehow that it could really be him. She was still dreaming…wasn’t she? “No, you can’t help me with anything, I was just…wandering,” she finally answered.

“Oh, I see,” he nodded absently and looked down again. “I thought maybe, since I was thinking about you -” he stopped suddenly and frowned. He raised his gaze and began to glance around at his surroundings, looking bemused. He shrugged a little to himself and turned to face her again, and she was surprised to see he had a crooked grin on his face.

Her heart would have been racing, if this weren’t the Fade.

How many nights had she lain awake thinking about him? How many times had she stared at him across the War Table, only to look away as soon as he looked up at her? How many times had she approached him at the training grounds and come up with questions and things to talk about so that she could just be near him?

The Fade must be projecting that desire. She’d never had it happen before, but then again her mind had never traveled this direction before she’d met him. She’d never thought about someone the way she thought about him. She’d never wanted to dream about someone the way she hoped she would dream about him.

“Evelyn, come here,” he suddenly said, and she was surprised to hear the tone of his voice, to see the crooked grin still on his face, to hear him call her Evelyn and not Herald.

It had to be a trick of the Fade.

But she approached, albeit warily.

“Maker’s breath, you’re so beautiful,” he murmured, and she raised her eyebrows at him.

“Cullen, I -”

He interrupted her by leaning forward and kissing her.

At first his lips simply pressed against hers, but after a moment he pulled her closer to him and twisted his mouth against hers. His tongue slipped between her lips and took up a tantalizing dance against her own.

She had dreamt of him kissing her like this since she’d first seen him.

That was just the thing, though. She _was_ dreaming.

She leaned against him, letting him continue to kiss her, one of his hands sliding into her hair and holding her head up to him. He was greedy, passionate, and impatient. It felt like he was working to fulfill the desire she’d been fighting since she’d woken up in Haven with a glowing hand. Since the first moment she’d seen him.

He was a remarkable man, and at least here in the Fade, he was a remarkable kisser.

It was the first kiss of her life, even here in a dream within the Fade, and she couldn’t help but think about how absolutely perfect it felt.

The edges of her unreality began to slip away though and she was abruptly pulled out of the dream.

She opened her eyes and blinked them rapidly, trying to figure out what had awoken her. She heard it again – recruits shouting to each other as they passed by her door.

She heaved a sigh and sat up, looking around the small cottage she had taken up residence in after surviving the Breach. She noticed a tingling in her lips, and she reached her fingers up to them. She frowned, slightly puzzled, but decided she had to have just been thinking about the dream and her burning, unrequited desire to act it out in real life.

It was just a shame it would never actually happen.

 

Cullen’s eyes opened and he looked around, sitting up to take in the inside of his empty tent. It took him several long moments to take in the fact that he was alone, that the Herald wasn’t there with him, that he wasn’t kissing her.

He had been, in his dream.

He’d been kissing her there in front of his desk, the same way he’d thought about kissing her since he first saw her. Ever since he’d seen her, after they’d pulled her out of the Breach. He hadn’t been able to think of anything but her, how beautiful she was, and how much he wanted her.

Yet at night he had usually still been fighting his nightmares, he hadn’t had a peaceful night’s sleep or dreams in over a year. Suddenly, though, he’d had a dream of kissing her, in his tent – and he could have sworn his lips were tingling now. He reached a hand up to them and ran his fingers to trace their curves and brushed over the scar that marred one corner of his mouth. His lips almost felt like they’d been touching something that – vibrated, almost – that tingled against his touch. The memory of the indescribable feeling wasn’t leaving him even though it had just been from a dream.

It had been an incredibly real dream, though. His lips almost felt wet, but were dry when he brushed them with his fingers.

How odd, he thought.

But then his mind immediately switched from curious wonder to shame and chastisement.

She was the Herald. He should never let himself think of her that way, he should never let himself dream or hope that he may get to kiss her like he had in his dream. He was completely unworthy of her.

Still though, it had just been a dream…

There couldn’t be any harm in letting himself dream.

If it hadn’t been a dream, he would have been mortified at the sudden, confident way he had beckoned her forward and kissed her. He had noticed how unusually quiet it was though and had almost seemed to realize he was dreaming, as if he were suddenly lucid. The realization had been all he had needed to finally act on the desire he often thought of while he was trying not to stare at her across the War Table.

It was incredibly odd, but he almost felt more rested than he had in months. With a small smile to himself, he finally pushed himself off his slim cot and prepared for the day.

 

At the war council later that day, Evelyn found herself nervous to look his way. The memory of his kiss in the dream, the way she had awoken hot and wet between her legs, embarrassed her even though no one else could possibly know.

Still, she kept her gaze averted and tried to focus on what Cassandra and Leliana were talking about.

When the council ended she made her way to the door, but kept her gaze downcast. Until she ran into someone and heard a muttered, “Oh, Maker’s breath!”

She looked up and saw that she had collided with Cullen.

“Commander! I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” she quickly apologized, and he almost looked like he blushed.

“No, no, Herald, I’m sorry – I wasn’t either, I was thinking about – ah, about the meeting,” he answered.

\“Right, yes,” she nodded. She felt herself flush as well. “Sorry, I’ll just – excuse me. I should prepare for Redcliffe, tomorrow.”

She gave him a smile that was only the corners of her mouth barely quirking upward and then hurried from the War Room.

She was cursing herself for once again being awkward in front of him.

It had just been a dream, it wasn’t like he knew. He couldn’t know the way she had woken up thinking about how much she wished it was real. How wet she had felt thinking about his lips against hers, almost feeling as if she remembered what it actually felt like.

Because there was no way he knew that she had dreamed that in the first place.

That night she couldn’t tell if she was more anxious or excited to go to sleep. She had wondered all day where the Fade might take her. At the very least, dreaming of him kissing her had been a nice reprieve from the monotony of her dreams reflecting the waking world too closely.

Dreaming about him would be better than being trapped in the Temple of Sacred Ashes again all night.

The Fade that night was the same, shifting as her thoughts did, first her family’s estate for a time, and then the Temple, but finally she found herself in Haven once more.

She didn’t hesitate this time but rushed forward, trying to find her way to the same tent as the previous night. She found it after searching a few of the rows in the middle of the village, and she took a deep breath before she pushed open the tent flaps.

He was there, pacing.

When she entered he looked up and smiled, almost seeming relieved.

“Evelyn,” he said, and she loved that at least in her dreams he let himself use her first name. “I was hoping you’d stop by.”

She stepped forward and peered up in to his face. She wished he would say those words outside of the Fade, but for the present she would settle for hearing him say them in her dreams.

He was giving her that crooked grin again, and he reached out to her and tenderly took her in his arms.

She moaned softly, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the feeling of his arms around her. It almost felt real, she almost thought maybe he was actually holding her. She opened her eyes again to see him looking over her face, his golden gaze warm as he studied her features.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, repeating his assertion from the previous night, and he leaned down and kissed her.

This time she wasn’t as shocked, and where she had been hesitant the night before, she kissed him eagerly now. If the Fade wanted to offer her the opportunity to indulge, to fantasize about him and what she longed to do, she planned to take it.

She slid her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through the hair on the back of his head. It was soft, wavy, and she sighed against his lips. Her dreams even knew how much she wanted to feel his hair between her fingers.

He was kissing her with less impatience than the previous dream, and she wondered if it had to do with the fact that her mind didn’t feel as starved for him, as scared that it may be the only time. The Fade was reflecting her thoughts, and it was finally reflecting her deepest desires.

The Commander’s hands wandered over her waist and back as he held her to him, one finally coming up to her neck to hold it as he twisted his mouth more intensely against hers. If it hadn’t been the Fade, she would have felt her breath stolen from her. Instead, the kiss continued as if neither of them needed to come up for air.

He finally pulled away from her and looked down into her eyes, seemingly unable to look away. After a long moment he said, “Evelyn, your eyes – Maker’s breath you’re so beautiful.”

She giggled. The Fade Cullen kept repeating the things she wished she could hear him say, mostly the word _beautiful_.

During the day, she was plagued by a desire for him to call her beautiful.

And now, again, the Fade was delivering.

“Cullen, I -”

But everything shifted and she opened her eyes, once again pulled out of the dream.

She sighed and looked around her cottage, again feeling hot and wet between her legs. This time it was accompanied by a throbbing sensation, and she squeezed her thighs together to amplify the feeling and moaned. She’d never felt this way because of any specific person before. Instead, she had always conjured up a perfect man, almost faceless, just a powerful body and an honorable demeanor, who would be tender and loving. That had been enough to get her through her time at the Circle, when she was alone and no one piqued her interest.

Now though the only man she wanted to conjure these feelings was him, even though she knew it was never likely to happen.

He was the Commander, he was at least fifteen years older than her, and he had been a Templar. There was no reason he would be interested in a mage of only twenty, especially not one with such unusual eyes and raw power. That was why the Fade had continually had him call her beautiful – she doubted he would ever think that in reality.

Her lips were tingling again, almost feeling slightly puffy like they had been rubbing against something for a long time. She frowned, and decided that she must have had them crushed into her pillow since she had been sleeping on her stomach. Or maybe she’d bitten them and pressed them to her pillow, as if the dream had been so real her body had responded to it as she slept.

She heaved a sigh and stood, realizing it was nearly dawn. They were leaving for Redcliffe that day.

 

Cullen opened his eyes and looked around, again glancing to the spot where he had been kissing the Herald in his dream.

For the second night now, he had dreamt he was in his tent kissing her instead of having his usual nightmare.

Again his lips were tingling, again almost feeling as if something wet was upon them. When he touched them they were dry, just as the previous morning.

Again he awoke hard and wishing she was beside him. Again he awoke feeling more rested than he had in months, since he hadn’t been jerked awake by a nightmare.

He remembered the way she had looked at him in the dream, the way she had moaned and seemed to light up when he called her beautiful. Especially when he had mentioned her eyes.

He wished he could see her look at him like that outside of his dreams.

Her eyes were beautiful, though, and he knew in his dream he had just been saying what he always wanted to when they spoke together. Her eyes were the most unusual shade he’d ever seen, so translucent they were almost white, though they reflected soft aqua and sea green depending on the light. They were ringed by a thick circle of deep blue, and the entire effect reminded him of the way lightning was framed by the night sky during a nighttime storm.

He knew from their fight to the Breach and Cassandra’s reports from the Hinterlands that the Herald was incredibly predisposed to lightning magic, and he knew that her odd, beautiful eyes were a reflection of that. He had never thought anything so magical, so powerful could be so attractive to him. They were, though, and at least he finally got to say so in his dreams.

Mentally he shook himself. Again he was happy that it had been a dream, since he would be mortified in reality that he couldn’t think of anything but the word ‘beautiful’ to describe her features. It was true, but he had a larger vocabulary than that. Even in his dream, though, she flustered him until he was awkward and almost shy. It was embarrassing for a grown man, and he cringed a little as he thought about it.

He heaved a sigh and pushed himself up from his cot. At least with her heading to Redcliffe, he wouldn’t spend his days stumbling over his words again and making a fool of himself.

At least not in the waking world. He knew he still would if he dreamt of her again. He hoped that he would.

 

The Herald had been gone for over a week, and his nightmares had returned. He hadn’t dreamt of her since the second time, and he was waking up crying out and staring around his tent looking for Uldred or the demon. It was a disappointing change from the way he had instead been waking up looking for her standing beside his desk.

He was frustrated, and even though he fell asleep trying to feel hopeful about his dreams, he woke up hoping he’d never fall asleep again as he was jolted into awareness by another nightmare.

It had been an enjoyable reprieve, but it seemed to be over.

 

* * *

 

Skyhold.

It felt odd, seeing a place so well-built, so sturdy but abandoned. It didn’t make sense to her. Then again a lot of what had happened in the last three weeks didn’t either.

So much had happened since her return from Redcliffe, and she stumbled to the small makeshift cot she had pressed into a corner of one of the keep’s dusty old rooms. She still ached from her injuries, her fingers still felt some pain from the frostbite they had almost succumbed to, the memory of the numbness and sharp pain still fresh.

It was the first night she was falling asleep without a tonic, and she didn’t even think about what dreams she may have in the Fade. All she knew was how much she needed rest.

The Fade was Skyhold.

She was standing in the courtyard, and she looked around cautiously. It was deserted, just as Haven had always been. She was trying to figure out where she should wander to first when she heard footsteps. She turned, unsure of what she expected, but she smiled when she saw who it was.

Cullen was approaching across the courtyard, a broad grin on his face. “I’ve been looking for you,” he said. “This place is much larger than Haven, though, I wasn’t sure where to look.”

She giggled. “You were looking for me?”

“Yes, of course,” he murmured, and he stopped before her and reached up to stroke her cheek. “I was hoping to see you, after…Evelyn, you almost died.”

It was odd how much emotion was in his voice as he said it. He sounded as upset as she secretly wished he might be, if they discussed this in person. His hand was still cupping her cheek, rubbing his thumb along her cheekbone, and she smiled at him.

“I found the bathhouses, I was thinking – you spent so long injured, I thought I’d help you relax.”

She raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t expected that, but the idea of spending her time in the Fade relaxing was a pleasant one. She let him take her hand and he led her to the baths, a large stone room with a pool in the center. The water was already hot, the air steaming as if the room really was as cold as Skyhold would actually be. He led her to the side of the pool of water and smiled down at her as he began working on the fastenings of her robes.

She felt her breath catch, suddenly nervous even though it was just a dream. She’d never been naked in front of anyone like this, and she had to remind herself that this was the Fade and he was acting out her desires. And she certainly wanted to be naked in front of him, that much she knew. She bit her lip as he continued to gently pull her out of her robes. Once she was finally naked he stepped back and looked at her, an appreciative and lustful gleam in his eyes.

“Maker’s breath,” he whispered. “Evelyn, you’re more beautiful than I could ever have imagined.”

She smiled, musing over the way the Fade still satisfied her need to have him say that. After encouraging her to step into the baths, he began fumbling with the fastenings of his mantle and his armor. She raised her eyes and watched him.

“Are you joining me?” she asked.

He merely gave her a crooked grin as he stripped himself, and her eyes widened as she took in the sight of him naked. She couldn’t tell if he would actually be this perfect in reality, but the Fade certainly had filled in her imaginings of him until he looked better than the ideal man she had always pictured before.

Before him, that was, because if he looked anything like this she never wanted to think about another man.

His entire body was sculpted, chiseled muscle, evidence of the hard work he put into his training and his work. The hair that covered his arms and legs, and a small patch across his chest leading down his belly, was just as golden as the rest of him. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of his substantial length, and she would have blushed when she realized it was slightly hard, if this hadn’t been the Fade. She wondered if it really looked that glorious in real life, and sadly mused that she would never find out.

He slid into the large steaming bath beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. “Evelyn,” he murmured, and he lowered his mouth to hers. It had been weeks since the two dreams she’d had of him, and she leaned eagerly into his kiss.

The Fade had certainly outdone itself, this time.

The feeling of kissing someone naked, she imagined, had to feel this wonderful. He was still holding her with one arm, but his other he slid into the water and caressed her breast.

Her breath caught in her throat and she moaned. He continued his caresses, taking her nipple between his fingers and exciting it until she cried out against his touch and the new feelings it was stirring in her.

And suddenly she felt herself being shaken awake.

“Little bird, are you all right?” came a voice from above her.

“What?” she muttered, looking around the room. Dorian had come in to share the space with her, trying to ward off the cold just as they’d spoken about before she retired. Neither of them were used to the freezing cold, and had agreed that sharing a bed would be an excellent solution considering how drafty Skyhold was. He seemed like he was stumbling a bit as he tried to shake out another blanket to place over them.

“Did you shake me awake?” she asked, her brows furrowed. She sat up and reached out to help him with the blanket.

“You were whimpering, you cried out,” he answered, and she noticed he seemed a bit like he was slurring a little. “I thought maybe you were dreaming about what happened at Haven or something.”

“Dorian are you drunk?” she asked, and got a grumbling and some chuckles as a response.

He finally flung himself onto the cot beside her. “So was I right, were you having a nightmare?”

“I -” she hesitated. He was drunk, but he always seemed to remember everything they’d spoken of when he’d been drunk in front of her before. She couldn’t tell him. “Have you ever had dreams in the Fade so real that you felt -”

He burst out laughing and she stopped. “Oh little bird, were you having a _naughty_ dream?”

"What? No, no,” she quickly lied. “Just – you’re right, Haven. It just felt very real, and I was wondering if the Fade can make things feel – like they were actually happening.”

But all she got as a response was snores.

She sighed and settled back onto the cot beside him, trying to keep herself pressed to the wall. She didn’t mind sharing with him, but she was hot and wet, longing to reach down and touch herself, to relieve the feeling even a little. She didn’t want to give it away and snuggle in to her friend’s warmth, somehow worried he’d figure out the direction her mind was still wandering if she did. She would be mortified if he knew she’d just awoken from a dream about the Commander, and the things she’d longed to imagine him doing to her. The feeling of Cullen caressing her in the hot water of the bathhouses had been so real, her whole body was tingling.

Instead of touching herself, though, she tried to close her eyes and go back to sleep.

She was disappointed in the morning when she woke up from a dreamless sleep.

 

Cullen’s eyes flew open, but this time he wasn’t being jolted awake by a nightmare.

After weeks of not dreaming about her, he finally had.

And Maker what a dream it had been.

He had imagined taking her to the bathhouses, stripping her naked before he did as well so he could join her in the hot water. He’d kissed her deeply, he’d let himself caress one of her perfect breasts.

She had been moaning, she had cried out softly as he touched her. She had been perfect, the way that he imagined her naked body would be when they spoke, when he had to shake himself to focus on her words.

He was painfully hard, he could feel the weight of his erection against his thighs as he laid remembering how she had looked, how she had whimpered.

He glanced around but the soldiers waking up to switch patrols were too close to him, and he adjusted the blankets and ignored the desire to find some relief with his hand. He tossed and turned some, but found himself unable to fall back asleep.

Not wanting to fall back into a troubled sleep full of nightmares, he eventually heaved a sigh and pushed back his blankets. He intended to find his armor and start his day early, considering how much he had to do and how sleep was suddenly eluding him once more.

 

“It was close. I’m glad that you – that so many, of our people made it,” she said, and she cringed. She hoped he hadn’t noticed, she hoped he hadn’t heard the slip. But the look that came into his eyes told her that he had. She turned, intending to flee, intending to hurry away before he saw the intense blushing she felt creeping across her face.

He reached out and grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her closer to him, until she was craning her neck up to see him. “You almost died,” he said, and his voice cracked with emotion.

His voice cracked with emotion the same way it had in her dream.

He was looking at her with the same look he’d had in her dream.

She suddenly felt lightheaded, her cheeks growing hot as she stared up at him.

“I won’t let it happen again. We’ll be better prepared next time,” he muttered, and he stepped away from her as he finally released her arm.

She stood for a moment staring at him, and then shook herself and hurried back into the keep. She was projecting her dreams on to him, she had to be. What else could it be?

That night she made Dorian share someone else’s cot for warmth, insisting that he had snored and kept her awake.

But really, she was hoping for another dream about Cullen, and this time she didn’t want it to be interrupted.

The Fade was Skyhold again, and she turned on the spot where she stood in the middle of the Main Hall. She wondered if she should wait for him to find her again or if she should search him out. After a moment’s hesitation she began to hurry through the hall to the front doors, intending to look out at the courtyard. As she approached, a tall broad figure filled the doorway, and she smiled when she recognized him.

This time, he didn’t greet her. He didn’t say anything.

He quickly closed the distance between them and crushed his mouth against hers, and she leaned against him and slid her arms around his neck. They swayed where they stood, and Evelyn felt herself overwhelmed by the intensity of the kiss, even through the slight fog and distant feeling of the Fade.

After what felt like an eternity, he pulled away and looked down at her, his hands tilting her face back where he held her with his hands twisted into her long black hair. He looked over her face, the sparkle in his eyes mirroring the one he had had in the courtyard earlier that day. “I should have kissed you then, I-” he shook his head and didn’t finish his sentence.

“I would have liked that,” she sighed, but she was only saying it to herself. He was a part of the Fade. He was the incarnation of her imaginings of him as the perfect man. In her mind, the perfect man would have followed that emotional tone of his voice with a kiss like the one he had just given her.

Again, the Fade was delivering.

“Let me make it up to you,” he murmured, and he slid his hot mouth down her throat.

In the Fade, Skyhold wasn’t populated, and they didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing or interrupting. He began to strip her much as he had in the previous dream, and he encouraged her to lie back on the floor of the main hall. He didn’t bother stripping himself, instead he stretched himself over her and kissed her deeply, letting his hands wander over her body.

He caressed her breasts again, he tugged and pinched her nipples between his fingers and she moaned. His mouth left hers and slid down her throat until he reached the peaks of her breasts, and he took one of her hard nipples in between his lips. She gasped, and was almost scared she would be jerked awake by the feeling. It was wonderful, hot and wet, sending pleasure coursing through her from the spot where he slid and swirled his tongue against her.

His other hand brushed her abdomen and found its way between her legs and she gave a surprised cry. He raised his head and smiled at her as his finger explored between her wet folds, spreading her excitement over her until his finger began to move against the small bud at the top.

She whimpered and rolled her hips, thoroughly shocked by how amazing it felt for someone else to touch her like this, even if it was just the Fade portraying how she imagined it might feel. It mirrored how it felt when she did it, yet was deliciously more perfect, more exciting that he was doing it to her.

And then she felt herself close to coming undone, but everything blackened and her eyes opened.

Between her legs was pulsing, throbbing, and she could tell she was soaking her smallclothes with how wet she was. She groaned in frustration; she had almost fallen apart just from the dream. She hastily reached down under the blankets and slipped her fingers under the waist of her smallclothes. Taking up a steady rhythm, she tried to mimic the pace and pressure she had imagined in the dream as she stroked her excited pearl. She bit her lip as she rolled her hips against her finger and soon she was gasping, panting as she felt her muscles contract and her back arched. Her legs quaked and her eyes were shut so tightly she was almost seeing stars as she cried out his name.

She finally lay sated, but more confused than ever.

Besides how real his touch had felt, she wondered at what had happened earlier that day in the courtyard, baffled at the way he had looked at her. She wondered at how it had so closely mirrored the way he’d looked at her in her dream the previous night before he said it. His confession that he should have kissed her – she’d thought that as she stared up at him, thinking that she wanted nothing more than for him to kiss her then after his declaration.

It was just the Fade.

But it was almost becoming harder to separate the Fade from reality.

 

Cullen reached down with his hand desperately, keeping his lips pressed tightly together so that none of the sleeping soldiers in the barracks could hear him. He took up a fast rhythm, trying to find his release before any of the recruits woke up to start their day.

It had felt so real, the feeling of her breast against his tongue, the feeling of her wetness on his fingers as he touched her. Her skin had tingled against him the same way her kiss did, and he could still feel it against his mouth and his fingers. The sound of her cries was still echoing in his mind. He was sure he had been about to imagine her falling apart, and he couldn’t believe that then was when his body chose to wake him up.

It had been the best dream yet, touching her in the main hall without worrying anyone would find him.

He pictured her naked body beneath him again and he felt himself get closer. He pressed his lips together more tightly to hide the moan he made as he throbbed and pulsed, spilling his release on the smallclothes that were awkwardly bunched around his hips. He leaned back, breathing heavily as he tried to steady himself.

He fought the shame that continued to try to overwhelm him after these dreams, though it felt worse now that he had just pleasured himself while picturing her naked.

His dreams had never felt more real, though, and all he wished was that somehow he could act them out in reality. His mind never wandered far from thoughts of her, and he noticed that he caught her looking at him frequently, always looking away quickly when he looked up.

He thought about how he had confessed in the dream that he should have kissed her. He’d wanted to, but besides the fact that they were in the middle of the crowded courtyard, he still knew he shouldn’t.

She was the Herald of Andraste.

And he was unworthy of her.

Especially now, when he was lusting after her and dreaming of trying to take her in whatever part of Skyhold he happened to find her in while asleep.

 

Evelyn had gone to Crestwood to meet Hawke and the Warden Stroud, and her time in the Fade every night returned to its boring monotony. She was beginning to get curious, realizing that even though she was a mage there was plenty about the Fade that she didn’t know or understand.

She decided to seek out Solas when she got back, thinking that maybe he could tell her why she had begun dreaming so specifically and realistically when she was at Skyhold.

Or more importantly, when she was in the same location _he_ was.

She tried to hurry through all of their tasks in Crestwood, desperate to return to Skyhold as soon as she could. She wanted to find answers to her dreams, but mostly…

She wanted the dreams to continue, no matter why they were happening.

 

* * *

 

As soon as she was back at Skyhold, she sought out Solas in the room near the library where he could usually be found. He was sitting at his desk, looking through a set of scrolls.

“Ah, Inquisitor -” he began to greet her, but frowned when he saw the look on her face. “Is everything all right?”

“I have some questions about the Fade for you, if you have some time,” she eagerly waited for him to nod and gesture to the seat across from him. “Solas, is it possible for mages to…have incredibly real dreams, that feel like they’re actually happening?”

“Who’s to say they aren’t happening?” the apostate countered.

“I -” she felt her heart skip a beat. “Could they be?”

“Your wanderings through the Fade are very real,” he told her.

“But anyone that I interacted with – they would just be recreations from the Fade, correct?”

“Or a spirit taking on your memories of them, perhaps,” Solas shrugged. “Unless the person was a mage -”

“So there’s no chance at all that I could be visiting a non-mage in their dreams?” she interrupted, barely listening to his explanations as she turned everything over in her mind.

He frowned at her. “Are you asking in specifics?”

“I…I’ve been having vivid dreams about someone, not a mage – and I was wondering if I was somehow actually visiting their dreams. Or if the Fade was just becoming increasingly realistic,” she answered, her voice trembling bit from her embarrassment. She hoped he didn’t discern the nature of her dreams, feeling unsure that she could handle the mortification if he did.

He tented his fingers before his mouth and seemed lost in thought for a few moments as he considered something. “I would normally say it was almost impossible, but,” he looked at the glowing mark upon her left hand. “There is a chance that the Anchor has shifted the way you interact with the Fade. It is entirely possible that you have been able to visit someone else’s dreams, or dream share with them.”

Evelyn blanched, her eyes wide. “Do you think they would remember them as well?”

Solas shrugged. “Perhaps.”

“Dream share – what would that mean?”

“You would have the same dream as them, but also be more lucid. It would be like you could control what was actually happening, as if you were shaping the dream together.”

Evelyn’s heart was racing and she tried to take a steadying breath.

If that was what was happening, that would mean…

She gave a jerky nod of her head and quickly stood up. “Thank you, Solas, you’ve been incredibly helpful.”

She ignored the curious look he was giving her and fled the room, intending to seek out Dorian. She needed to think, she needed a friend she could speak with about these things, realizing maybe out of everyone he wouldn’t laugh at her so much. When she found him she slowed, her heart racing even faster when she saw who he was with.

He was playing chess in the courtyard with the Commander.

And if she weren’t mistaken, Cullen seemed almost more flustered than usual to see her.

 

“We should spend more time together,” she said softly to him, and he couldn’t help but smile.

His heart had been racing the whole time they had played chess, his mind wandering to the dream from several weeks ago. He tried to keep his eyes on her face or the chess board, but he kept feeling his gaze drawn to her curves, remembering how he had imagined her looking as she stretched out naked beneath him. “I – I’d like that,” he finally answered, realizing his pause would be suspicious if it went on any longer.

“Me too,” she replied.

He chuckled, and noticed that she blushed and looked down. “You said that,” he teased softly, and the blush in her cheeks deepened.

It reminded him of the way she had flushed under his tender caresses, in the baths and the main hall in his dreams. He cleared his throat, trying to redirect the path his mind was taking. “We should continue our game, right? Right. I believe it was my turn?”

 

For weeks he had dreaded sleep after his nightmares had made a return. He found himself eager to try to sleep that night though, since he had a feeling his dreams would take a better turn. He had seen her, had spent an afternoon playing chess with her, and he found that time spent with her or near her was a trigger for more pleasing dreams.

He hastily stripped out of his armor and lay down in his bed, trying to still his mind so that he could sleep.

He was walking the battlements, wearing one of his loose shirts and breeches, but it wasn’t cold despite the surrounding snowy peaks. He looked out over them for a few moments but then turned his attention to the courtyard and the battlements. He wasn’t back in the cage in Kinloch, so he knew she had to be somewhere nearby.

He hurried along the ramparts and finally saw her approaching, wearing only a thin night shift. She stopped in her tracks when she saw him, and he frowned a little. She had an odd look on her face.

He closed the distance between them and immediately took her in his arms. After weeks of not dreaming of her, he felt starved for his imaginings, of seeing and feeling this nighttime secret once more. He fought his desires so much during the day when he saw her, being able to act them out in his dreams was the perfect release.

He twisted his mouth against hers but noticed a slight hesitancy in her. That was odd – why would she hesitate in his dreams?

Cullen pulled away and looked down at her. She had a bemused frown on her face.

“Do you want me?” she asked.

He smiled, knowing his dream wanted to give him the chance to admit what he longed to admit when he was awake. “More than you know,” he murmured and leaned down and kissed her again.

She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him more tightly against her. Her eagerness thrilled him, as if it was how he would want her to react if he actually made that confession outside of his dreams. He almost imagined he could taste her, still feeling the slight tingle against his lips that he felt every time he dreamt of kissing her. He ran his hands through her hair, almost able to imagine he could feel its softness, its silky strands as he twisted his fingers into it. He slanted his mouth, deepening the kiss as he slowly backed her toward the nearby low stone wall.

She was moaning softly against his lips, and he slid his hands down her sides and began to lift her shift up her body. She gasped when he ran his hands over her breasts, and he smiled down at her while lightly pinching her excited nipples. “Cullen,” she murmured. “Cullen I want you, too.”

He longed to hear those words actually fall from her perfect lips.

Instead he settled for the way he imagined they would sound.

He knelt before her and gently spread her legs, pulling one knee over his shoulder. She was staring down at him wide-eyed, her gaze full of the lust he wished she’d looked at him with while they had played chess together. She leaned back against the wall to steady herself, and he reached forward and ran his tongue along her slit.

Even here, the contact with her skin made his mouth tingle. He moaned and repeated the action, eliciting a heavenly sounding cry from her throat. He took up a steady rhythm against her small pearl, swirling his tongue and licking at her while she ran her fingers through his hair. She was moaning his name, crying out softly as she rolled her hips against him. She whimpered, unable to form words except for his name, though she tried occasionally until she was gasping incoherently in response to his gentle teasing.

He slid a finger inside her, marveling at the tingling and wetness he could feel, almost as if it was real. She tasted sweeter than he had imagined, but he realized that of course in a dream he would think she did. He continued his gentle work on her until suddenly she gave a louder cry of his name and he felt an abrupt increase in the tingling and throbbing around his finger. She was coming, and he tried to continue his soft lapping at her pearl to enjoy the sensations his dream was conjuring as she rocked her hips against his mouth.

But suddenly he jerked awake, alone in his bed.

He could still smell her, he could taste her as if he really had just had his mouth on her. His lips, tongue, and fingers were all tingling and he almost thought they felt wet for a moment.

He groaned and reached down to his hard length, closing his eyes so he could better envision the sublime imaginings his mind had created for him as he sought his own release. It took him hardly any time at all, so aroused already by the vivid wanderings of his dream that soon he was spilling his seed on his own stomach as he moaned her name.

 

Evelyn was pulled out of the dream with a cry, her back arched and her limbs trembling.

She was falling apart, her sex throbbing and clenching at a finger that wasn’t actually there, her small pearl feeling oversensitive against a tongue that wasn’t really lapping slowly at it.

After several long moments her body quieted and she lay panting for air, her eyelashes fluttering as she tried to steady herself.

She hadn’t expected that, she hadn’t expected the dreams to become even more vivid. All she could think was that they were getting more intense as they progressed, as both of them continued to enthusiastically indulge what they thought was just a dream.

She knew better from speaking with Solas though, and now she felt certain that he was right.

They were somehow sharing dreams. She had somehow managed to wander into his corner of the Fade.

A corner where he dreamed of doing things like pleasure her with his tongue against the ramparts surrounding Skyhold.

Solas had told her they were both more likely to be lucid when they were sharing dreams. Which meant the answer Cullen had given her when she asked if he wanted her had been the truth.

He wanted her more than he thought she knew. Except that she did know, because his actions in the Fade were testament to how much he wanted her.

She couldn’t tell if she felt like she was being taken advantage of or if she was the one taking advantage. Since she had a better idea what was going on, she felt a slight bit of shame that she was letting it continue, that she had let it go as far as it went that night.

The way he had so insistently pushed her back to the ramparts, though, had silenced any protests or explanations she may have been able to raise. She had never thought of anyone doing that to her, had never experienced anything like that. It had felt more real than any of the other nights.

She sat up, rubbing her forehead and noticing a slight dampness along her hairline. She sighed. She couldn’t let it continue, she needed to find a way to tell him.

She felt like marching to his office and telling him in person wasn’t going to be the best idea. She needed a plan.

           

Evelyn avoided him as best she could all day, sticking to the library and her quarters and burying herself in work. She had come up with a plan, and when she laid down to sleep that night her heart was racing. She was anxious, hoping desperately that it would work.

She was standing on the battlements again, near the tower he had taken over as his office. She took a deep breath and walked to one of the doors to open it.

He was standing at his desk in only his breeches, and he looked up eagerly when he saw her.

“Love,” he sighed and he walked forward and pulled her into his arms.

His term of address made her falter, and she was momentarily distracted from her purpose as he captured her lips with his. She leaned into the kiss, letting herself enjoy the slightly muted feeling of his lips on hers, but she reminded herself it was the Fade. She needed to stop.

She pushed softly against his chest. “Cullen, I have to tell you something,” she murmured.

He smiled and shook his head. “No, no, love, you don’t have to say a word.”

She almost imagined her knees were weakening when he called her ‘love’ again, but she stepped back lightly from his embrace. “It’s important, please.”

He raised his eyebrows and finally released her, looking thoroughly bemused.

“Cullen, you’re dreaming,” she started softly.

He chuckled. “I know,” he shrugged.

She hadn’t fully expected that, but she took another breath and tried to continue. “And I am too.”

He frowned, but didn’t say anything.

“What I mean is – I’m also dreaming this. With you. We’re – we’re dreaming this together,” she said. She hated how her nerves still interfered in the Fade. She worried she would mess this up and get too flustered. She didn’t want to risk messing up how she told him because of nerves. She took a deep breath.

“I’m not sure I understand,” he replied slowly. His frown was deepening.

“I think my mark may have changed the way I interact with the Fade,” she explained. “I mean to say – we’ve been -”

“Has this actually been happening?” he suddenly interjected, his eyes wide. He flushed, and looked thoroughly mortified.

“Not exactly but we’ve both been…I mean, I keep waking up remembering this. _Feeling_ this.”

He blanched and turned away from her, rubbing the back of his neck. “Maker’s breath, I never thought these would turn into nightmares, too.”

“What do you mean?” she tried to step toward him but he was pacing, running a hand through his hair.

“I suppose they had to eventually -”

"Cullen, wait. I – I’m not sure I’m explaining this properly. I think we’re dream sharing, I think we found each other in the Fade because,” she sighed. “Because we wanted to. Because we wanted to be here – together.”

He stopped pacing and stared at her, an indecipherable look in his eyes.

“I’ve had an idea, just to see if I’m right,” she hurried to explain. “When you wake up, come out onto the battlements and look toward my room. If you see me out there, if you can see me – come to me.”

“What?” he looked surprised.

“Come to me,” she repeated earnestly. “When you – _wake up_.”

 

Cullen sat up and looked around his dark loft. Nothing exciting or terrifying had been happening to him but his heart was racing and his skin felt clammy.

She had addressed him, so directly. That wasn’t at all where he had wanted the dream to go, and he was confused.

But then he thought about it, and he wondered why until then the dreams had gone exactly as he wanted. As if he had been able to shape them as they happened. He thought about what she had been saying, what she had been trying to tell him.

It couldn’t be…

He leapt out of bed and hurried down his ladder, remembering her last words to him.

_Come to me._

He rushed onto the moonlit battlements and looked toward the balcony he could see from where he stood. He halted in his steps and his mouth fell open.

Evelyn was standing on the balcony looking his way, silhouetted by the silver moonlight in only the thin night shift he had seen in his dreams. Even across this distance, he thought he saw her smile.

_Come to me._

He took a deep breath, staring up at her as she stood still, staring at him in return. Slowly he turned and began to walk along the battlements toward the keep. At first his steps were hesitant, and he walked like a man being sent to the gallows as doubt raced through his mind. He got nearer to the keep and thought about what she had said in the dream, of the fact that she was actually standing on her balcony waiting for him. His pace quickened and he became more confident until he was half-jogging through the deserted main hall to the door to her new quarters.

He wrenched open the door without a second thought and raced up the stairs and through the hall until he reached the door to her room. He halted and for a second considered knocking.

Then he decided he didn’t need or want to.

He pulled the door open and hurried up the stairs into her room. She was walking inside from the balcony, her arms folded as she watched him ascend the steps. For a long moment, they simply stared at each other across the empty space of her quarters.

“Evelyn,” he murmured. “Do you want me?”

“More than you know,” she said, and he realized she was echoing what he had said in one of the dreams.

With a few rapid strides they both closed the distance between them and collided, their arms wrapping around one another greedily. He crushed his lips to hers as his arms pulled her tight against him. Their lips twisted against each other, and he slid his tongue into her mouth to search hers out. She met it eagerly and tightened her hold around his neck. They swayed, and he suddenly stooped and lifted her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist, one hand moving to his cheek while the other ran through his hair.

He turned and carried her to the bed, leading with one knee to pull them to the center of the bed so he could collapse on it with her beneath him. She was gasping against his suffocating kiss and her fingers dug into his back. He reached down and grabbed the hem of her shift and pulled it up over her head.

She was perfect.

And she looked exactly as she had in his dream, and suddenly he knew that what she had said was true.

“Evelyn,” he sighed and leaned back over her, running a hand over one of her bare breasts. “Maker’s breath you’re beautiful.”

She giggled softly. “So you’ve told me.”

He gave her a crooked grin and resumed their deep kiss as his hands wandered over her body. Everywhere he touched her she tingled, and he moaned as he remembered how the feeling had haunted him after each of his dreams of her. He hadn’t realized he actually had been experiencing what she would actually feel like.

He slid his hand between her legs and began to touch her and she cried out, breaking away from their kiss with a sob of his name.

“Love,” he said against her lips. “I want to – let me make love to you. Please, let me take you. I want you.”

Her face broke into a wide smile and she moaned as he continued stroking and exciting her. “Yes, Cullen. I want you to.”

He sat back and quickly undid his breeches and slid them off, throwing them off the side of the bed so that they landed on top of her shift. He settled himself between her legs and resumed his kisses and caresses. She was gasping, rolling her hips against him, and he lightly nibbled her throat. He slid his finger down to feel her wetness, exploring within her as she bit her lip and moaned.

He removed his finger from her and gripped his length to position it at her opening. She shifted her hips a little and he began to thrust in, but he met resistance he hadn’t expected. “Maker, Evelyn -” he gasped and tried to pull away. “You should have told me.”

“Don’t stop, Cullen, please,” she begged. “I want this, I want you,” and she grabbed his hips and shifted herself again to encourage him to push further in to her.

He took a steadying breath and thrust slowly in until he was sheathed within her. She groaned and closed her eyes tightly, looking as if she was trying to adjust to the feeling. He held himself still above her, waiting to see if she told him to stop, if she asked him to withdraw. Instead she fluttered her eyes open and smiled at him before she wrapped her legs around his hips to hold him deep within her.

He braced himself above her with his hands above her shoulders, staring down into her face as he began gently rolling his hips against hers to ease her in to it. He was trying to be as considerate as he could be considering his size, but he quickly began to push faster and harder as he watched her crying out with obvious pleasure beneath him. Soon the sound of his flesh slapping against hers and the cries of his name spilling from her lips with each of his movements were the only sounds that filled her quarters.

She was eagerly responding, rocking and thrusting her hips to meet his until he felt positively lightheaded. This was no dream. This wasn’t a shared imagining of the Fade. He was actually here, in her bed, deep inside her as she sobbed his name and clenched around him, her back arching and thrusting her perfect breasts up. She was falling apart beneath him, the tingling and throbbing he’d experienced on his fingers in their shared dream finally fully realized as she climaxed around him. He groaned and felt himself pulse as he found his own release, his hot spend filling her as he finished with a few last thrusts.

He collapsed on top of her, panting heavily. She still had her legs wrapped around him, and her arms around his shoulders. She lightly twisted the fingers of one hand into his damp curls.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked, still worried that he had rushed into things since he hadn’t known she was a virgin.

“No, you didn’t. That was better than a dream,” she murmured breathlessly.

“I agree,” he laughed, the sound muffled against the breast his head was resting against. “So we actually – you remember everything from those dreams?”

She giggled. “Every moment,” she admitted.

He raised his head and gazed down at her, unsure if he should be embarrassed or thrilled. “Did I make you – on the battlements?”

Evelyn bit her lip and nodded her head, smiling eagerly at him. “Just as I woke up.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “I – I don’t know what to make of this.”

“I do,” she murmured.

He raised an eyebrow at her in question.

“I say we keep making our dreams a reality,” she answered, her voice low like a purr.

"That’s certainly something I’m willing to do,” he gave her a crooked grin and leaned back down to kiss her deeply.


End file.
